LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



(SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.) 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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n 



MINISTERIAL DEVOTEDNESS. 



A SERMON 

PREACHED 

IN THE CHAPEL OF LAMBETH PALACE, 

On Sunday, April 29, 1832, 

AT THE CONSECRATION OF 

THE RIGHT REV. DANIEL WILSON/ D.D. 



LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. /{<f^ 



BY THE 



REV. WILLIAM DEALTRY, D.D. F.R.S. 

RECTOR OF CLAPHAM AND CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OF WINCHESTER. 



LONDON : 

J. HATCHARD A'ND SON, 187, PICCADILLY. 
H. N. BATTEN, CLAPHAM. 

1832. 



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xf* 



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The Library | 
of Congress 

NGTON I 



WASHINGTON 



LONDON : 
IBOTSON AM) PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND. 



TO 

THE MOST REVEREND 

WILLIAM, 

BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 

LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 

PUBLISHED BY HIS GRACE'S COMMAND, 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



A SERMON 



Acts xx. 24. 



But none of these things move me, neither count I my life 
dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with 
joy ; and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 

There are few passages even in the sacred writings, not 
being immediately connected with the personal history 
of our blessed Lord, which appeal more forcibly to our 
feelings than the account of the last interview between 
St. Paul and the elders of the church of Ephesus. We 
need no evidence beyond the narrative itself, to show how 
these Christians loved one another ; and when we dwell 
especially upon the recollections, which they mutually 
had, of exhortations delivered by the apostle, publicly and 



from house to house;* and of warnings which, by the space 
of three years, he had not ceased to address to every one, 
night and day, with tears,^ we feel that it required no 
common effort, and no ordinary motive, for such a 
minister to bid farewell to such a congregation. And 
with what views was he leaving them ? Was it for a 
station of worldly ease ? for friends more affectionate or 
churches more flourishing ? I go, saith he, bound in the 
Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall 
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every 
city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me.% But did 
he pause then in his course ? When Providence called 
him to other fields of labour, did he hesitate to obey the 
call ? He had put his hand to the plough, and he would 
not look back ; the mind which did not suffer itself to 
be diverted from the path of duty by the tears of Chris- 
tian friendship and its own tender affections, was not to 
be terrified by any outward hardships. None of these 
things move me ; neither count I my life dear unto myself, 
so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the 
gospel of the grace of God. 

* Acts xx. 20. f Id. ver. 31. { Id. ver. 22, 23. 



The great objects in the view of the apostle were 
two. One, which should equally engage the attention 
of every Christian ; the other, belonging more particu- 
larly to his station and office in the church. 

His first object was, that he mightfinish his course ivith 
joy : that, when he should come to his dying hour, he 
might enjoy that peace which passeth understanding, and 
depart out of this world in the full hope of a blessed 
immortality. Hence, he felt the immeasurable import- 
ance of giving all diligence to make his own calling and 
election sure* While exhorting others to run the race 
set before them,^ to fight the good fight of faith, and to 
lay hold on eternal life,% he knew that this was the only 
way of safety for himself, and he pursued it with all the 
ardour and energy of his mind. I therefore so run, not 
as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air : 
but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, 
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I 
myself should be a castaway. § Neither was there any 
stage of his Christian progress in which he deemed him- 
self at liberty to neglect his own salvation, or relax his 

* 2 Peter i. 10. f Heb. xii. 1. 

I L Tim. vi. 12. § 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27. 



8 

exertion to secure it. His language still was, This one 
thing I do ; forgetting those things which are behind, and 
reaching forth unto those which are before, I press toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 

r 

Jesus * 

But this happy termination of his course must like- 
wise have been very closely associated with the discharge 
of his sacred obligations as a minister of Christ. The 
grand business of his life, the very end for which the 
Lord had appointed him, as a chosen vessel to himself, 
was to bear his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and 
the children of Israel,^ to preach among the Gentiles the 
unsearchable riches of Christ ;% to make known the way 
of salvation by faith in a crucified Saviour, and to invite 
every man who heard him, whether Greek or barbarian, 
whether wise or unwise,^ to share in the fulness of its 
blessings. His commission was as wide as the world — - 
to preach the gospel to every creature. 

That gospel is here emphatically represented as the 
gospel of the grace of God. A more striking and com- 

* Phil. iii. 13, 14. f Actsix. 15. 

X Eph. iii. 8. § Rom. i. 14. 



prehensive description of it can scarcely be conceived. 
The glad tidings of God's mercy to mankind : the mes- 
sage of reconciliation, unmerited by men, and arising 
exclusively from the goodness of the Lord, yet announc- 
ing, even to the chief of sinners, the forgiveness of sin, 
and present peace and life everlasting. The gospel of 
the grace of God! a subject which fills with inex- 
pressible admiration and delight every faithful and 
enlightened member of the church of Christ upon 
earth, but which will never be seen in all the magnitude 
of its dimensions, till we behold the countless multitudes 
of the redeemed in the kingdom of God, and unite in 
their songs of praise unto him that loved us, and washed 
us from our sins in his own blood* 

And this gospel it was the apostle's object to testify ; 
not merely to preach it, but to preach it with energy, 
like one who was perfectly convinced of the truth of 
it, and could bear witness to its power ; establishing it 
by such arguments as ought to carry conviction to every 
honest and candid mind ; never shrinking from the 
avowal of h,is own entire trust in it ; never compromising 
its principles ; but bearing evidence to it as a faithful 

* Rev. i. 5. 

B 



10 

revelation, and worthy of all men to be received, what- 
ever were the prejudices or whatever the rank of his hear- 
ers ; testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repen- 
tance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.* 
How well the practice of the apostle corresponded 
with this view of his avowed intention, might be shown 
from the general tenor of his writings, and the entire 
narrative of his public ministry. When we listen to 
him, for instance, announcing to the philosophers of 
Athens, in allusion to their altar, inscribed To the 
UNKNOWN GoD, Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, 
him declare I unto you ;f and following up his persuasive 
appeal to their understandings, by telling them of the 
last great day, and adducing, as conclusive evidence of 
it, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead : J 
when we hear him declaring to the multitudes of Jeru- 
salem^ as afterwards to king AgrippaJ the history of 
his conversion to the faith of Christ ; or reasoning, in 
the presence of Felix, of righteousness, temperance and 
judgment to come,% till the man of authority trembled 
before his prisoner ; we feel how exact and how just is 

* Acts xx. 21. t Actsxvii. 23. % Id. ver. 3K 

§ Actsxxii. || Id. xxvi. % Id. xxiv. 25. 



11 

the language, which on different occasions describes him, 
in varied expressions, but to the same import, as declar- 
ing the testimony of God,* as bearing testimony concern- 
ing Christ, t as his witness unto all men of what he had 
seen and heard, % as a witness both of those things which he 
had seen, and of those things in the which Christ would ap- 
pear unto him,§ as testifying the gospel of the grace of 
God. How admirably does it represent to us the im- 
movable conviction of his own mind as to the truth of 
his statements, and that holy confidence and energy with 
which he proclaimed and enforced them ! 

Such were the two great objects of the apostle ; and 
for these he avows himself ready to meet the most pain- 
ful trials, even to the sacrifice of life itself. We have, 
in this passage, not the statement of a moralist who rea- 
sons about troubles of which he has no apprehension ; 
not the idle assertions of a man nursed in the lap of 
ease, whose enjoyments are abundant, while his hard- 
ships are imaginary : but the solemn declaration of one 
who had already experienced great persecution, and who 

* 1 Cor. ii. 1. f Actsxxii. 18. 

% Actsxxii. 15. § Id. xxvi. 16. 

b2 



12 

was verily persuaded that so long as he should continue 
to testify the gospel this would be his inevitable lot. • 

The expected trials soon came, and he showed him- 
self prepared to meet them. The whole remaining 
history of his life vindicates most nobly the strong 
assurance in the text, and proves that on this, as on 
every other occasion, he spake the words of truth and 
soberness. Under the personal violence which, at the 
close of this very journey, he experienced at Jerusalem ; 
and his long imprisonment at Caesarea ; and the bonds 
of which he so pathetically makes mention before 
Agrippa;* and his two imprisonments at Rome, of 
which the last, as he foresaw, could lead only to mar- 
tyrdom ; we observe in him the same Christian elevation 
of character, the same Christian resolution to witness a 
good confession. It was during this period that he 
expressed to the church at Philippi his willingness, even 
with joy and rejoicing, to be offered upon the sacrifice 
and service of their faith : j* and his earnest expectation 
and hope, that in nothing he should be ashamed, but that 
with all boldness, as always, so now also — when he was to 
appear before the emperor himself — Christ should be mag- 

* Acts xxvi. 29. t Phil, "• 17. 



13 

nified in his body, whether it were by life or by death* It 
was in this period, and toward the close of it, that when 
deserted by all his friends, and cast as it were into the 
very mouth of the lion, he tells his beloved son Timothy, 
The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me 
the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gen- 
tiles might hear.\ To the last, even when he was now 
ready to be offered, and the time of his departure was at 
hand, % his whole conduct and spirit bore witness to the 
truth of the declaration, None of these things move me, 
neither count I my life dear unto myself. 

It is impossible to contemplate this devotedness of 
St. Paul to the work of the ministry, without feeling 
that it must have engaged the best affections of his 
heart ; and we pause to ask ourselves, not without deep 
interest in the question, what were the prevailing motives 
which impelled him to such zealous, unwearied, and un- 
compromising exertion ? accompanied also by sufferings, 
which made him a spectacle, as it were, unto the world, 
and to angels, and to men.§ 

* Phil. i. 20. f 2 Tim. iv. 17. 

% 2 Tim. iv. 6. § 1 Cor. iv. 9. 



14 

For a satisfactory answer, it is scarcely necessary to 
look beyond this address to the elders of Ephesus. The 
apostle, in speaking of his ministry, adds a few words, 
which, to a careless reader, might seem to be nearly 
superfluous ; but proceeding from the fulness of his 
heart, they furnish an instructive view of his character 
and feelings : — The ministry which I have received of the 
Lord Jesus. How dignified then must be the office ! 
how sacred the trust ! how solemn its obligations ! how 
animating the reflections which the remembrance of 
that fact could never fail to awaken ! 

And we have, in his writings, distinct evidence that 
he felt all the force of the argument, and that it fur- 
nished him with the strongest motives to faithfulness 
and diligence in his high vocation. 

Hence, the imperative duty to preach the word. 
Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of : 
for necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I 
preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I 
have a reward ; but if against my will, a dispensation of 
the gospel is committed unto me* 

Hence, a motive for perseverance in the work : Seeing 

* 1 Cor. ix. 16, 17. 



15 

we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint 
not* 

It inspired him with a holy determination, that what- 
ever were the judgment of his fellow-creatures, he would 
affirm and maintain the truth in all its simplicity, its 
purity, and its fulness. I" certify you, brethren, that the 
gospel which was preached of me is not after man : For I 
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by 
the revelation of Jesus Christ : j* and, Though we, or an an- 
gel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that 
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. % 

It filled him with the spirit of admiring" and adoring 
gratitude. What had he done to deserve such a distinc- 
tion ? or what return could he make for the grace thus 
bestowed upon him ? Upon this subject also we have 
his own decisive testimony. Whilst speaking to Timo- 
thy of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which 
had been committed to his trust, he thus describes the na- 
ture of his feelings : — / thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who 
hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting 
me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a 

*2Cor. iv. 1. f Gal. i. 11, 12. 

t Id. ver. 8. 



16 

persecutor, and injurious:* he can scarcely mention the 
circumstance without, tacitly at least, intimating his 
astonishment that such a person could have been so fa- 
voured : — But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly, 
in unbelief. 

There is, perhaps, no feature in the apostle's character 
more remarkable, than his love to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Here we have the grand, inspiring principle, which car- 
ried him onward, with constraining influence, through 
the whole scene of his labours and his sufferings. And 
this is, doubtless, the disposition which we should expect 
peculiarly to shine forth, and to abound in him. 

If one, to whom much was forgiven, loved much,f 
what must have been the ardour of affection in the heart 
of that chosen minister, who was appointed to preach 
the faith which once he destroyed^ and to testify to all 
men, the gospel of that Saviour whom he had once so 
fiercely persecuted ! 

So intimately is the love of Christ connected with 
love to our fellow-creatures, that we might confidently 
represent this love to man as exercising a powerful influ- 

* 1 Tim. i. 12, 13. + Luke vii. 47. 

1 Gal. i. 23. 



17 

ence upon the mind of St. Paul : and how many are the 
proofs of it, which appear in his writings ! 

With what affection, for example, did he dwell upon 
the state of his unhappy and hostile countrymen ! having 
great heaviness, on their account, and continual sorrow in 
his heart ; wishing even that himself were accursed from 
Christ — deprived of the Christian ordinances which he 
so highly valued— -for his brethren, his kinsmen, according 
to the flesh* 

With what tenderness did he regard his converts and 
brethren in the faith ! exhorting, and comforting, and 
charging every one of them, as a father doth his children, 
willing to have imparted unto them, not the gospel of God 
only, but also his own soul, because they were dear unto 
him.\ Such are the terms in which he addresses the Thes- 
salonians. What a comment upon them do we possess in 
his farewell to the elders of Ephesus ! 

But neither was his charity confined to his brethren 
after the flesh, or to the partakers of like precious faith 
with himself; knowing that God our Saviour will have 
all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth,% he extended his regards to the whole human race ; 

* Rom. ix. 2, 3. . f 1 Thess. ii» 1 1 . 8. + 1 Tim. ii. 4. 

C 



18 

he felt the importance of salvation to men of every class 
and of every country ; and there were none to whom he 
would not have rejoiced to proclaim it ; willing to be 
made all things to all men, that he might by all means save 
some.* 

Is it necessary to adduce any additional motive as 
urging the apostle to exertion and endurance ? There 
was one, which immediately and personally affected 
himself. Was it one great object of his care to finish his 
course with joy? Did he for this put forth his strength 
in the Christian race, and wield the weapons of the 
Spirit in the Christian combat ? But how hopeless 
would have been the desired termination of his course, 
if his paramount obligations as a minister of Christ had 
been forgotten or neglected ! What would have been 
his feelings, in the immediate prospect of dissolution, if 
his conscience had reproached him with unfaithfulness 
in discharging the ministry, which he had received of the 
Lord Jesus ! What a comfort, on the contrary, if, at 
such a season, he could appeal to his friends around him, 
as he did to those who met him at Miletus, / take you to 

* 1 Cor. ix. 22. 



19 

record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men* 
How delightful, on the retrospect of life, if he could re- 
peat the statement once made to the Corinthians — Our 
rejoicing is this • the testimony of our conscience, that in 
simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but 
by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the 
worlds This was not a pharisaical principle : the very 
terms of the statement ascribe every thing that was good 
in him to the grace of God : whatever were the record 
of his past services, whether it respected his labours, 
his sufferings, or his success, he would still say, Not I, 
but the grace of God xvhich was with me.% Could it be 
any diminution of his happiness, that it was associated 
with gratitude ? That feeling would add largely to his 
joy. He would rejoice in the thought, that as it was the 
grace of God which first put him into the ministry, and 
qualified him for the discharge of it, so was it the same 
heavenly grace, which had enabled him to adorn his 
profession, and had made manifest by him the savour of 
divine knowledge in every place, ,§ And conscious of that 
goodness and mercy which had followed him through 

* Acts xx. 26. f 2 Cor. i. 12. 

I 1 Cor. xv. 10. § 2 Cor. ii. 14. 

c2 



20 

the whole course of his ministrations, he would be forti- 
fied in the belief, that he should not be forsaken at last ; 
and would look forward, with the assurance of hope, to 
a gracious recompence in the day of the Lord. 

While we behold, therefore, with admiration, the 
holy indifference of the Apostle, as to all the troubles 
and afflictions which might come upon him in the ful- 
filment of his ministry, was there not an adequate cause 
for that feeling in the reflection, suggested by himself, 
that this ministry he had received of the Lord Jesus ? 

Would he not find, likewise, a present recompence 
for many toils and many sufferings in the success vouch- 
safed to him by the conversion of sinners, in the work 
of building up his converts on their most holy faith* in 
the Christian affection of the members of the several 
churches, and in the knowledge that his children walked 
in truth ?-\ Could he be thus instrumental in promoting 
the glory of Christ, and extending His kingdom, with- 
out rejoicing that, in such a cause, he was counted worthy 
to suffer ? 

There was, yet further, the strong conviction, that 
all the painful appointments which befell him, should 

* Jude 20. f 3 John 4. 



21 

turn to his salvation through the prayers of the churches, 
and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ :* that they 
should even work for him afar more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. ,f Well might he say, None of these 
things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my- 
self! How light and momentary, to a mind like his, 
must all afflictions seem, when contrasted with the pros- 
pect of heaven and immortality ! 

It is not to be denied, that the case of St. Paul was 
in some respects peculiar : his call to the apostleship, 
and many of the circumstances connected with the ful- 
filment of his office, were such as have not been known 
in these later ages, nor indeed iu the case of any other 
human being. 

But, to every minister of the gospel, lawfully called, a 
dispensation has been as truly committed by the Lord 
Jesus. Every minister has essentially the same obligations 
to preach the gospel ; < and from the example and spirit 
of St. Paul> he may learn how he ought to fulfil them. 

The Christian missionary, also, however humble his 
station, is one to whom this subject would, doubtless, be 
applicable : the man who, for Christ's sake, leaves his 

* Phil. i. 19. f 2 Cor. iv. 17. 



22 

kindred and his home, to carry the glad tidings of salva- 
tion into dark and distant lands ; what need has he of that 
self-denying spirit, and of that holy elevation of charac- 
ter, which so eminently distinguished the great apostle of 
the Gentiles, and of which he gave such affecting evi- 
dence in this parting interview with his friends at Miletus ! 
But more especially suited is this subject, both in 
itself and in the circumstances connected with it, to the 
solemnities of this day. If it be true, in the case of the 
missionary, that he has to forsake, in the first instance, 
all that he most loves and values upon earth, the inter- 
course of family connexions, and the sympathies of 
personal friendship, and the society of many with whom 
he had taken sweet counsel, and to whom he had perhaps 
been united in the endearing relation of a minister to 
his flock — a relation, which speaks much of mutual af- 
fections and mutual prayers ; — will the separation be 
less painful to him, who, from the very circumstance of 
his being summoned to the highest office in the Eastern 
church, must be supposed to have held no unimportant 
station in the church at home, and has, in all likelihood, 
for a long series of years, been testifying faithfully and 
effectively the gospel of the grace of God ? In turning to 



23 

those persons whom, from their childhood, he has been 
training for heaven, to others who have long regarded 
him as their pastor and their friend, and to all within 
the circle of his acquaintance, who have esteemed him 
very highly in love for his work's sake* he feels that it is 
no common bond, which is now to be dissolved ; and 
there must be on both sides the painful reflection, that 
here they will probably meet no more. 

And is there no anxiety connected with his new du- 
ties and his future prospects ? 

Happily in that part of the world to which our 
attention is at present directed, the minister of Jesus 
Christ, whatever be his rank or description, incurs little 
danger of bonds and imprisonment and a violent death : 
yet will the ministerial office necessarily involve great 
responsibility, and expose him to many difficulties un- 
known in a Christian land ; and to whom can such an 
observation apply so forcibly as to him, who, in addition 
to his other cares, has the care of all the churches f f 

The duties of the subordinate clergyman lie in the 
district immediately around him ; and to that district 
his labours will generally be confined. The Bishop must 
in India, as in other countries, be the counsellor of 

'.* 1 Thes. v. 13, \ 2 Cor. xi. 28. 



24 

all who are placed under his jurisdiction, and must 
participate in the anxieties of all. We are compelled 
to acknowledge that the officiating ministers in our 
Eastern empire are comparatively few, and that 
many of our own countrymen, baptized into the faith of 
Christ and called by his name, are strangers to the re- 
gular ordinances of the gospel : but is this a fact which 
tends to release the chief pastor from anxiety ? How 
painful must it be to him, — to him especially- — to see 
them thus left as sheep without a shepherd ! and, ex- 
tending his view through the various provinces of the 
country, to reflect that, even if every minister were 
as zealous as St. Paul, there must still be many who 
profess themselves Christians, for whom there is no access 
to a house of prayer and to whom the Christian sab- 
bath shines not as a sabbath of the Lord ! 

And this, too, in a land where the true God is ge- 
nerally unknown, and a debasing superstition, or ido- 
latry as cruel as it is profligate, holds in bondage the 
great mass of the population. When St. Paul w^as at 
Athens, his spirit was stirred in him on seeing the city 
wholly given to idolatry * Can a successor of St. Paul, 
resident in India, behold the moral and religious degra- 

* Acts xvii. 16. 



25 

dation of nearly that entire continent, and not be 
affected by similar emotions ? Although his own mis- 
sion is not directly to heathens, yet must he feel 
intensely for the millions around him, who are living 
and dying in ignorance of the only true God and of Jesus 
Christ whom he hath sent* Upon his Christian zeal and 
Christian prudence and moderation, and the testimony 
which, both by his life and doctrine, he bears to the 
gospel, may depend in no mean degree, under the 
divine blessing, the extension of the kingdom of Christ 
through those wide and populous regions. He must of 
necessity be as a city set on an hill : he cannot be hid : 
the eyes of multitudes will be turned to him : and 
great need will he have of patience and faith and prayer, 
lest he faint under the weight of his responsibility, or be 
discouraged by the difficulties and disappointments 
which will assuredly meet him. 

But we are speaking of future years of exertion, 
when on this occasion we cannot but be reminded how 
uncertain are all such prospects. The consecrations to 
the see of Calcutta, which these walls have witnessed 
within the last nine years, but too plainly forbid us 

* John xvii. 3. 

D 



26 

to indulge, on such a subject, in any very confident anti- 
cipations : and the successor of those four Bishops, who 
have within little more than that period finished their 
course in the East, must be prepared, not only to say with 
respect to ordinary difficulties and trials, None of these 
things move me, but to add, in the spirit of heartfelt de- 
votedness to God, Neither count I my life dear unto myself \ 
But let us not forget also, what a glorious field of 
Christian enterprise is before him, and how many and 
how great are his encouragements ! 

He goes not into a country hitherto unvisited by the 
messengers of Christ : where not merely the fabric of the 
Christian temple is yet to be erected, but its foundation 
is still to be laid. By the blessing of God upon those 
who have gone before him, much has in this view un- 
doubtedly been effected. They have laid the founda- 
tions, upon which he is to build : they have laboured, 
and he will enter into their labours ; carrying forward 
towards completion that system, in all its depart- 
ments, which it was their privilege to commence, and 
which is suited so well, if God shall prosper the attempt, 
to perpetuate through distant generations the blessings 
of Christian civilization and Christian worship. 



27 

Was it, at no very distant period, an assertion con- 
fidently made, that if Great Britain were then to lose 
her power in the East, she would leave no monuments 
to prove that India bad ever been in the possession of 
a Christian people ? Thank God, that reproach upon 
the national character is past. 

Without undervaluing the pious labours of other 
Christians, which, in fact, have long been a lesson to 
us, whether we look to the Roman Catholic or the 
Protestant, who successively went before us in our Eastern 
empire, we cannot but rejoice, that the national church 
can, at this day, point to many monuments of the in- 
terest which she feels in the spiritual state of the people. 
Many are her sacred buildings, which now gladden 
the moral wilderness of India, and many the native 
worshippers who join there in our own services of 
prayer and praise: and so long as that noble college 
which has risen up on the banks of the Hoogly shall 
attract the eye of the voyager in his approach to the 
first and greatest city of Bengal, he will recognize in it 
the Christian zeal, which, in giving birth to the institu- 
tion, aimed at nothing less than enabling the various 
classes of the people to read, in their own tongues, the 
wonderful works of God. D 2 



28 

If we should advert further to the striking indica- 
tions of improvement, which are visible in the native 
population ; — if, for example, we should turn to the 
schools now attended by that sex which, till very 
recently, was excluded from every privilege of instruc- 
tion ; or point out the converts, who have been gained 
from heathenism to the faith of Christ, the first-fruits, 
it may be hoped, of an abundant harvest : if we should 
contemplate that most interesting spectacle of the Syrian 
churches, preserved so wonderfully in a strange land, 
through a succession of ages, and retaining, to this hour, 
their usages as a Christian people, and their reverence 
for the word of God : or if, further, we should notice 
that thirst for European knowledge which now prevails 
to such an extent among the higher orders, especially of 
the natives of Calcutta, or their rapidly increasing ac- 
quaintance with the English language, the language of 
civilization and literature and religion ; or the relaxing 
of that bond of caste which had for so many centuries 
held in subjection the very minds of the people ;— we can- 
not but feel that a Christian bishop, in going out to 
India at this moment, has much to encourage him in the 
discharge of his arduous office. 



29 

Should it please God to preserve him for a few years, 
he may reasonably hope to see the public mind in that 
interesting- region awaking to a sense of duty and 
gratitude to the common Father and Saviour of 
mankind ; and, through the medium particularly of 
Christian education and the circulation of the Holy 
Scriptures and the increased efforts of European 
and native teachers, may have the satisfaction to 
behold the church enlarging the place of her tent, 
stretching forth the curtains of her habitations, and length- 
ening her cords and strengthening her stakes ; # himself 
meanwhile contributing to that end, by his care and 
diligence in promoting the spiritual interests of those 
over whom he more immediately presides, as well as by 
the judicious exercise of his authority, the combined 
energy and moderation of his character, the wisdom of 
his counsels, and the beneficial force of his example. 

But, whatever should be the will of Divine Provi- 
dence concerning him, let him go forth with the assur- 
ance that, in leaving his native shores, he will not be 
forgotten by those who remain behind him. Many will 
be the supplications offered on his behalf in the retire- 

# Isaiah liv. 2. 



30 

ment of the closet ; and in the prayers which ascend from 
the sanctuary, his name will not be forgotten. Neither 
will that testimony of affectionate regard be confined to 
those who have had the benefit of his personal minis- 
trations : not a few are to be found both at home and 
abroad, who, having never seen his face in the flesh, but 
knowing well the services which he has rendered to the 
cause of holy truth, will fervently wish him God speed, 
and rejoice in his welfare and success. 

May it please God to hear from heaven, his dwelling 
place, these united supplications ! May his servant, to 
whom this great charge is committed, be carried in 
safety over the deep, and be preserved in health to pro- 
secute with vigour his arduous duties ! may that 
Saviour whose gospel he testifies, and who has pro- 
mised to be with his ministers even to the end of 
the world, sustain him under his trials and bless his 
ministrations : and, when at length he shall be 
called to rest from his labours, may he be able to say 
in the language and in the spirit of St. Paul, I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 1 have kept 
the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a croxm 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall 



31 

give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto all them 
also that love his appearing* 

Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and 
to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with 
exceeding joy ; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, 
majesty, dominion and power, both 7iow and ever. Amen.-\ 

* 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, f Jude 24, 25. 



LONDON : 

IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND. 



, 



Lately published, by the same- Author, 

SERMONS, 

CHIEFLY PHACT1CAL, 

PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF CLAPHAM, SURREY 
Second Edition. Price 10s. 6d. boards. 

PRIKTEQ FOR J. HATCHARD AND SOX, 187, PICCADILLY. 



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